If you're stuck in evening rush hour traffice on Route 28, the former St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church looms as a dark and empty presence rising up a steep, wooded hillside. Even so, it's an impressive structure, with its three onion domes. Nearby sits a rectory and grotto. For years the church building's future has been in doubt. It was dedicated in 1901 as the first Croatian Roman Catholic church in America and was a center of life in the Croatian community established on the North Side. That neighborhood is now gone. Demolition crews are in the process of taking down the few remaining houses. The church closed in 2004 and for a while it seemed it would be torn down so a dangerous section of Route 28 could be widened. Then PennDOT altered its plans so the church structure could be saved. In December, Lamar Advertising announced plans to purchase the church and to cooperate with efforts to establish a National Immigration Museum in the building. If that happens, life would once again return to one of Pittsburgh's most historic buildings.